Instrument for drawing and measuring arcs



Dec. 31, 1957 E. s. MEAD INSTRUMENT FOR DRAWING AND MEASURING ARCS Filed 001; 26. 1953 '9 m Q N 'INVENTOR.

BY Ear/ 5: 77Zeaa am'zwa m United States Patent gai /903 INSTRUMENT FORDIX}WNG AND MEASURING hans; Me'ad; =Detrditylvlichi Appiicaiiisa oases-r it; 19"55, shims. 3853254 1 eiaime (01:33:27

This invention relates to drawia'g and measuringins'trutnent's a nd, in particular, to instruments for drawing and measuring circular arcs, especially those of lohg radii of cufva't-ure';

One object of this ihveri'tiori is' to provide an instrunfierit' for drawing arid mea'suring circiilar arcs, especially mess of lohg radii of" curvature} without" the necessity of having access to the center of curvature of the are or of providing any mechanical connection between such center and'the pencil or other scriber Another object is to provide aniii'stfiiinent for drawihg ahd measuring circular arcs which is rigidi compact ahd, when prdpe'rly used, substantially free from error, s n that ev n if are instrument is caused to retrace its original path, the mark by the scriber coincides with the mark ni'ad'e By the scriber on its previous stroke;

Another object is'to' provide auinstrument of thefor'eg'oing character for drawing and measuring long radius arcs which is simple" and rapid in operation ahdwhich is capable of drawing arcs of any radius" regardless of the length of the radius.

Another dhje'c t is to provide ii'l inst r ulhe'rit of the foregoing character for drawing and measuring lohg radius arcs" which is quickly a'hd easily adjhs'table to" draw arcs of different radii over a wide rahge or radii, the in stt'ilrnen t being equipped with discs of dilfe're'ht siies fo cover differentrah'ges'ofratlii. v Another dhject is to provide an irist ruii lent of the fdre going character for drawing arid meashrin'g' lhhg radius arcs which is substantially free from movable Ifiernher's which arelikely to slip accidentally and cause e'fror, or which are likely fo'sag oi deflect, as in the' case of compasses: 7

Another obje ctiis to provide an instrument of the" raregoing character for drawing and measuring long radiu's arcs which for its principle of operation depends upon the action of two' circular discs mounted upon a comawn axle anti adapted to roll upon the surface on which the arc is to be drawn, the radius of the are thus drawn or measured being determined primarily by the dilferht diameters of the discs" and the linear separation of their peripheries.

Another ab ect is to provide arr-instrument of the foregoing character for" drawingand measuring long radius arcs wherein the peripheries} of the discs are knurled, roughened, madeof frictional material or otherwise treated" to increase their grip and prevent slippage relatively to that surface while rolling across it 7 L Other objects and advantages of the invention will Become apparent during the course of the following description of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a side elevation partly in vertical section of an instrument for drawing or measuring long radius arcs, according to one form of the invention;

Figure 2 is atop plan view of the instrument shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a substantially vertical section taken along the line 3-3 in Figure 1 Figure 4 is a left-hand end elevation;

Figurre Sis a diagrammatic top plan view of reduced size, showing the path of travel of the instrument in drawingor measuring a circular arc oflorigradius; and

Figure 6 is a geometrical view illustrating'the mathematical principles involved in the construction and operation of the instrument;

Hitherto, the drawing and masurin'gof arcs of long radius has been a" difficult problem, particularly where considerable accuracy was necessary' and ordinary errors either of radius or of departures-from true circular curvature could nht be tolerated; Beam compasses provided for drawing circular arcs beyond the range or ordihary compasses are clumsy and u wieldy'; arid f 'iiir'e beams as long as" the radius of the are t6 he drawn,- as" well' as access to the center or the" are. Moreover, since beam compasses require a beam as loiig as' the radiiie of the arc to be drawn or measured, the bendihg" or rather deflection of the beam" becomes" a" 'erieus source" of error when the arc exceeds a certain practical range of radius, and extremely long ratliiis' a cannot as drawii beeaus' or the" practical tm bssienity or roviding a long enough beam. In additidfi to the unwieldiness' of a long heath, its weightand the difiieiil'ty of storing it during periods of r'ion-use' become serious problems. The use of a wire, cord, tape" of ether fleiiible member in place of the provides ease of storage but leads to greater err'o'rs Bearor reams ana true circularity than in" the case'of a beam compass.

The present inven-tioh p ide's' a' long radius arc drafti'ri'g' antl rn'easiliriiig instrument which elimihates the foreg' oihg disadvantages of previotiriiistrmaents for that purpose, and provides a simple ahd conipact iristrurrient which is substantially free from the errors to which prior instruments were subject. In general, the instrument consists of' a relatively rigid rod upon which are mounted are spaced r'i'g'id ci'rciilar discs of kho'vvri diameters aiid pissed with theif'periphe'ries at a kfio'wii' separation; The discs are of different diameters, depending upon the radius of the arc to be drawn" or measured, and a holder for a pencil or other scriber is mounted adjacent the larger disc. Various small aper'turesare" provided for the reception of the point of a pencil or other scriber, so that the fadius aad esnsequeau the position of the arc may he va'rieclf slightly for a single setting of the instrument.

Referring to the drawing in detail, Figures 1 to 4 inclusive show a long radius arc drawing and measuring in'str'iiinen't, generally designated 10, according to one form of the invention, as" consisting of a substantially rigid rod 12 of circular or other cross-section upon which a large disc 14 and a small disc 16 are slidably mounted to vary the separation between the surface-contacting rearward edges 17 and I9" or their peripheries 1 3 and 20 respectively. The discs 14 and 3.6 are of relatively rigid material, such as metal, so as not to deform during drawing or measurin'g operations; and their peripheries 13 and 20 are preferably slightly knurled or roughened or made of frictional material, such as rubber or coated with frictional gripping particles, such as abrasive particles; in order to increase the'frictiohal grip of the disc's 14 and 16 upon the surface S on which the arcA is" to be drawn or measured (Figure 5). While the arc A is being drawn, as will subsequently appear, the discs 14 and 16 roll along arcs B and C of shorter radii, all of the arcs having their centers at the point 0. The surface S is assumed to be a flat surface.

The discs 14 and 16 have hubs 22 and 24 with longitudinal bores 26 and 28 adapted to slidably receive the rod 12 and also have transverse threaded bores' 30 and 32 for receiving locking screws 34 and 36 respectively. The forward or outer face 38 of the larger disc 18 is preferably provided with a bearing disc 40 of suitable material, such as brass, secured stationarily thereto. Slidably mounted upon the forward end of the rod 12, and having its rearward face 42 engageable with the forward face 44 of the bearing disc 40 is the approximately vertical upper wall 46 of a scriber holder, generally designated 48, the horizontal lower wall 50 of which rests upon the surface S on which the are A is to be drawn or measured, and it is joined to the upper wall 46 by spaced parallel approximately triangular webs 52 rising from the opposite side edges of the lower wall 50. The upper wall 46 of the scriber holder 48 is provided with an enlarged hole 54 through which the rod 12 loosely passes. Multiple scriber point holes 56 are preferably formed in the lower wall 50 for the insertion of the point of a pencil or other scriber, the holes 46 being arranged in rows in such a manner that each hole is a slightly different and known distance from the front surface 38 of the disc 14, so as to enable arcs of slightly different radii to be drawn with but a single setting of the disc 14 and 16 upon the rod 12.

In order to decrease the friction between the upper wall 46 and the bearing disc 40, the upper Wall 46 is drilled as at 55 at laterally-spaced locations (Figure 4) to receive tiny round-headed rivets-like members 57, the rounded heads of which engage the bearing disc 40 in almost point-like areas of contact. Yieldingly engaging the upper wall 46 of the scriber carrier 48 is a channelshaped contact member 58 having upper and lower flanges 6t! and 62 respectively, the edges of which are engageable with the upper and lower portions of the upper wall 46 on opposite sides of the rod 12. The central portion or web 64 of the contact member 58 is engaged by the rearward end of a compression spring 66, the forward end of which engages an abutment or enlargement 68 on the forward end of the rod 12.

Derivation of formulae for use Of instrument Referring to Figure 6, the mathematical formulae for the use of the instrument either for scribing or measuring a circular are are easily derived. The given quantities are e ef

and from the geometry of the figure, by inspection e0=a0ae whence, substituting in the above formula in which, by substituting the symbols assigned above to these distances Multiplying out to clear the denominators gives us Rr =Rr -sr whence by transferring terms to opposite sides of the equation gives us (Graphically it will be seen from Figure 6 that r -r =ad since ef=db) 4 whereupon we obtain the following working formulae:

i R: and r r 7' Tp, T. (11) Operation Let it be assumed that it is desired to draw or scribe an arc of a given radius with the instrument 10, and that for this purpose a scriber hole 56 is selected whose distance from the surface contacting edge 17 of the disc 14 is known in advance from the constructional constants of the instrument. This known distance of the scriber hole 56 from the contact edge is subtracted from the radius desired for the are to obtain the radius R to apply to Formula II above. Solution of this formula, using the known values of the radii of the discs 14 and 16, gives the separation s to which the contacting edges 17 and 19 must be set in order to draw or scribe the desired radius. The instrument is set by loosening one of the set screws 34 or 36 and moving its corresponding disc 14 or 16 along the rod 12 toward or away from the other disc until their contacting edges 17 and 19 are separated by the distance found by Formula II, whereupon the set screw 34 or 36, as the case may be, is tightened.

The user than lays the instrument on the drawing paper or other surface on which the arc is to be drawn, places the point of the pencil or other scriber in the selected hole 56, and, while pressing lightly with the fingers of one hand upon the rod 12, rolls the instrument on its discs 14 and 16 across the surface S (Figure 5), causing them to trace out arcuate paths B and C, and at the same time causing the pencil or other scriber to trace out the are A. If the are A is of a sufiiciently short radius that it can be checked by a beam compass or other means, it will be found to be exactly of the radius desired, as obtained by the use of Formula II.

If, on the other hand, the user wishes to measure the radius of curvature of a circular arc of unknown curvature, he rolls the instrument across the surface S so that the contacting edge 17 of the periphery 18 of the larger disc 14 runs along the arc to be measured. If it does not follow the arc, and shifting of the small disc 16 olf the surface S does not align the path of travel of the peripheral edge 17 with the unknown are, he moves the small disc 16 back and forth and by a cut-and-try procedure readjusts the separation of the two contacting edges 17 and 19 until the contacting edge 17 travels approximately along the unknown arc and roughly coincides with it.

He then inserts a scriber in one after another of the scriber holes 56 until a hole is found in which the scriber accurately follows the unknown arc. The separation s of the contacting edges 17 and 19 is then substituted in the above Formula I to obtain the radius R of the arc B traced out by the contacting edge 17 of the disc 14. The value of R thus obtained, being the radius to the arc B traced by the contacting edge 17, must be increased by the distance between the contacting edge 17 and the selected scriber hole 56, in order to find the true radius of the unkown are A which the scriber followed. This distance is a constant of the instrument and from Figure 5 is of course seen to be the distance between the unkown are A traced out by the scriber and the arc B traced out by the contacting edge 17 of the larger disc 14.

It will be obvious from the foregoing discussion that a single pair of discs 14 and 16 and a single rod 12 may not cover a sufficiently large range of radii. Accordingly, in practice, the instrument 10 is supplied with a set of discs 14 and 16 of dilferent diameters and a set of rods 12 of different lengths.

It will be further evident from a consideration of Figure 6 that a curve of desired radius may be scribed upon a piece of drawing paper without using the scriber holder 48 and scriber by using the indentation formed in the surface of the drawing paper by the contacting edge 17 of the disc 14 directly as the arc to be drawn, and thereafter going over the indentation with a pencil or pen to make it permanent, with or Without the use of French curves or other aids in drawing arcs. It will also be evident that the radius of an unknown arc may be similarly determined without the use of the scriber holder 48 and scriber by adjusting the separation of the contacting edges 17 and 19 of the discs 14 and 16 relatively to each other until the contacting edge 17 of the larger disc 14 accurately follows the curvature of the unknown arc and coincides with it. The separation of the contacting edges 17 and 19 is then measured and substituted in the above Formula I to find the true radius of the unknown arc. It will also be evident that the smaller disc 16 also traces out a circular arc, hence may also be used to scribe or measure an arc in a manner analogous to the foregoing manner.

In principle, from the foregoing remarks, the geometrical action is that of the rolling of the frustum of a cone along a fiat surface, With the elements of the cone converging toward the apex at the point 0, the length of an element being the radius desired or existing for the are traced out by the base of the cone. Difierent arcs of different radii result from cones of different height resulting from moving the two discs toward or away from one another along the rod so as to increase or decrease the height of the frustum of the cone and accordingly increasing or decreasing the length of the elements thereof which corresponds to the radius of the are. From the foregoing theory, it will also be evident that if the discs 14 and 16 are of the same diameters, they will constitute a geometrical cylinder with the elements parallel to one another instead of intersecting at the apex of a cone. Consequently, circles of equal diameter will trace out arcs 6 of infinite radii, which are, of course, straight parallel lines.

What I claim is:

An instrument for scribing and measuring circular arcs upon a fiat surface, said instrument comprising an elongated supporting member, a pair of rollable members with circular peripheries of different radii of curvature, said rollable members being stationarily mounted in axially-spaced relationship upon said supporting member, one of said rollable members being mounted for adjustment along said supporting member relatively to the other rollable member whereby to vary the axial separation of said rollable members, a scriber holder having an upstanding portion rotatably mounted upon said supporting memoer in a plane parallel to one of the rollable members having a substantially horizontal plate-shaped scriberpoiut-guiding portion disposed adjacent and parallel to said surface and adapted to position the point of the scriber against said surface, said scriber-point-guiding portion having a multiplicity of scriber-point-guiding holes therethrough disposed at different predetermined distances from the periphery of one of said rollable memers, and resilient means engaging and urging said upstanding portion of said scriber holder against one of said rollable members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 211,825 Worthington Jan. 28, 1879 390,360 Gieseler Oct. 2, 1888 805,216 Lynch Nov. 21, 1905 2,542,537 Klemm Feb. 20, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 29,337 Great Britain 1897 607,418 Great Britain Aug. 31, 1948 

